


Photographs

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-20
Updated: 2007-12-20
Packaged: 2019-01-19 15:32:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,146
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12412977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: Harry meets his godson for the first time. Inspired by reallycorking's fanart Photographs on http://pics.livejournal.com/reallycorking/pic/000sh0pg/g15.





	Photographs

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

His heart beat in a slow rhythm as he pulled his cloak on and looked in the mirror. He attempted to smooth a small wrinkle out of the light fabric, he tried in vain to flatten his hair, and he failed miserably at plastering a smile on his face. He studied his face and realized that the last year had left its marks. His boyish appearance had almost disappeared; instead he saw a face with sharp lines and curved lips that were enclosed by a sparse beard, cheeks with the softness of those of a child gone, and eyes that had seen more than any other his age. He pushed a strand of hair off of his forehead and looked at the lightning-shaped scar. He had the feeling that it was going pale, like it wanted to forget him now that he was free.

"Are you ready?" came a voice from behind him, and he turned to the door. Ginny walked over and smiled. "It will go well. You'll see," she assured him and kissed him on the cheek.

"Yeah, no problem... It's not that..."

"You're excited Harry," she interrupted. "You can't fool me." She hugged him gently. He buried his face into her shoulder and inhaled her familiar fragrance. It always calmed him when he needed it.

"You know me too well," he whispered near her ear and kissed a spot on her neck that he had discovered a couple of weeks ago that always gave Ginny goose bumps.

"I had five years to watch you." She grinned at him when he pulled away and observed his appearance again. "You look good," she asserted for a second time and pulled him from the room and down the stairs.

The Burrow was eerily quiet since they had returned a few days ago. Ron and Hermione had left for Australia to find Hermione's parents and bring them back.

When they entered the kitchen, Mrs. Weasley looked up from a pot on the stove, in which something bubbled happily and spread a fantastic scent.

"We're off, Mom," Ginny said and kissed her mother on the cheek. "We'll be back for dinner."

With a ghost of a smile on her face, she nodded briefly and hugged Harry. "Give Andromeda our best and tell her ..." she trailed off, but he knew what she couldn't get say.

"Will do. We'll be back on time." And he left her arms.

Together with Ginny, he left the house and lifted his face to the clouded sky. It was mid-June, and a warm breeze blew over them, but there were a few raindrops that found their way down to earth.  
Harry took her hand and made the attempt of a rotation. He felt as though he were being squeezed through an unseen dark room in which he thought he would suffocate. As the feeling disappeared and life-saving air flooded into his lungs, he opened his eyes and looked at a two-story house a few hundred meters away. A path of cobblestone led through the front yard and past a pond that Harry only knew too well.

His heart was no longer beating at the same pace as a few minutes before. It beat faster, and a fluttering feeling spread across his abdomen - a feeling that he hadn't felt in a long time.

"Come on." Ginny smiled confidently and tugged at his hand. He breathed loudly and made the first step.

"It will go well. Believe me," she said again and slipped an arm around his waist while he put one over her shoulders.

"Yes, it will... It's just..." he replied hesitantly. "I've only seen Mrs. Tonks once, and I yelled at her because I she was Bellatrix Lestrange!"

"But you apologized, didn't you?" Ginny made sure and looked at him.

"Of course I did."

"Then it's not a problem."

"Yeah, but I'm ..."

Ginny broke from his arm and looked at him with gentle eyes. 

"Harry, I know that you blame yourself for the fact that Andromeda no longer has a daughter and that Teddy no longer has mother and father. I know that you blame yourself for every death that happened! But let me tell you out of my experience, I don't think it's your fault and deep... deep down inside, you know that."

Harry broke into a little smile. "I was going to say something completely different."

"Oh. What?"

"I am excited because of Teddy," he admitted.

"Harry ... I will say it just one last time ... everything will be fine." And she went up the garden path. After a few steps, she felt his arm on her shoulders again and leaned into him.

Only when they stood at the door did they split apart, and he knocked confidently. After a few seconds, a woman with long light-brown hair and gentle eyes, which were completely different from her sister's, opened the door.

"Mrs. Tonks," Harry said, no longer quite so confident now that she stood before him and was examining every inch of him. "I hope you got my owl. I ... I came because ... because I would like to speak to you and because I wanted to see Teddy."

She nodded briefly. "Come in, you two." She smiled slightly, but it didn't reach her eyes.

"Mrs. Tonks, my mother says 'hello,'" Ginny said politely. "And she wants to know if you and Teddy will join us for dinner some time."

"That is very nice." She thanked them and brought them into the living room. "Gladly." She pointed them to a sofa that Harry had laid on over a year ago. She sat down in a large armchair and looked expectantly at Harry.

"Erm," he started. "I think you know that Tonks, I mean Nymphadora and Remus, named me Teddy's godfather."

"Yes, I know about it," she said and looked still expectantly at him.

"Yes ... Mrs. Tonks ... I wanted to tell you that I will always be there for Teddy... and ... and for you, if you want," Harry said quickly. Every word that left his mouth came as a surprise for the woman to whom it was addressed. Her figure sank down as though all the tension would fall from her, and she leaned back, relaxed.

"I am of age," he added, "but I know that I can't give Teddy what he could get from you. You are his grandmother and more family for him than I am. But I want to be part of his family, and I want him to be part of mine. "

Andromeda closed her eyes, and something glistened between her eyelashes, but she tried hard to hide it. "I would be delighted," she said with a hoarse voice, trying to swallow the grief that lurked in her words.

"I won't let Teddy forget who his parents were," Harry said. "I will be there for him to tell him who they were and what they meant to me."

Ginny sat spellbound at his side and listened to his words. The security that radiated from Harry and that lay in his words affirmed his intentions and pacified Andromeda's fears that she would also lose Teddy. As though the young man whom Dora and Remus had had so much confidence in could read thoughts, Harry continued.

"I would like Teddy to grow up in the house of his grandmother. I have a house, but Grimauld Place is not where a child can grow up happily. Also, as I said earlier, I will turn 18 in only a few months, and I need to finish school, and I ... I ..."

"I totally understand what you mean." Andromeda relieved him from his stuttering. "You are always welcome, Harry. No matter when you come. "

Harry's breathing eased. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." She smiled, and this time it reached her eyes. "Do you want to see Teddy now?" she asked.

Ginny poked him in the side when he didn't answer immediately. He had that day as well-prepared as possible, but now he felt completely at loss. Of course he wanted to see Teddy, but suddenly something gnawed at him - something that shouldn't have been there. But he overpowered the feeling because he knew that no one accused him of what he had felt.

"I would like to see Teddy," he replied and ultimately followed Andromeda into the hallway. She remained at the foot of the stairs.

"The third door on the left side. He's sleeping right now." She showed him the direction and went back into the living room where Ginny waited.

Harry saw her slim figure disappearing behind the door, and his self-confidence went with her. How could she leave him alone now?

"Come on, Harry," he said to himself. "You fought him by yourself. You can go up the stairs and take a look at your godchild."

Slowly, he ascended the stairs and passed many photos of Tonks. The higher he went, the older she became, and as he stood at the last step, he looked at a picture that couldn't have been hanging there for long. Remus, Tonks, and Teddy were on it. Both parents were on a blanket, Teddy - in a playsuit with the Weird Sisters' logo on it - between them. He had his arm stretched up. Remus held his tiny hand and placed a kiss on his forehead. Teddy seemed happy and chuckled while Tonks looked gently at him with an expression that only a mother could have.

Harry left the long-gone happiness and walked along the hallway until he came to the right door. Carefully, he put his hand on the handle and pushed down. The door swung open with a slight clatter, and Harry feared he would wake Teddy. But he heard no sound from the child's bed.

As he would sneak up on a Death Eater, he entered the room and came to a halt in front of the cradle. He looked into it and was surprised when he was met by eyes that reminded him of Remus.

The light blanket that must have covered him during his nap lay beside him, and he kicked his thick little legs. When he saw Harry, he forgot his finger, which he had been in the process of observing, and blinked incessantly. The little hair that he already had turned from turquoise to black like Harry's.

Harry smiled gently. "Hello, Teddy," he whispered and looked closely at his godson - the rosy cheeks, the heart-shaped face, the little body, the tiny hands, and the knobby legs.

Harry was fascinated by him as he thought about how soon he would run around and ask numerous questions. Harry considered buying him his first broom and teaching him how to fly. 

Teddy's arms stretched up to him and he made a grouching noise.

"You want to get up?" And a grunting sound escaped from the small mouth again.

Carefully, as though he were taking something precious from a shelf, he grabbed Teddy under his arms and lifted him up. The little boy chuckled and wiggled his legs in satisfaction. Harry held the baby before him and, as he became aware that he couldn't remain standing in such a way, sat down in a nearby rocking chair. A little awkward, he lay Teddy to his shoulder and teetered back and forth.

"I knew your parents, Teddy," he said. "I know your father since I was thirteen, and I met your mother for the first time when I was fifteen. At that time..."

And Harry told the baby how he had met Remus and Tonks. He did not know whether Teddy understood him, but the boy was now totally silent, as though he were listening to the story. His hair was turquoise again, and he seemed to be sucking his thumb.

Harry did not know how long he had been sitting there when the door opened and Andromeda and Ginny came into the room. The two women stopped and looked at the scene before them.

Harry smiled at them as Ginny rummaged cheerfully in her cloak and took a small camera from it. It clicked, and the moment was captured on film.

Hours later, Harry and Ginny left the house of Andromeda and Teddy Tonks. 

"Come again soon," she called after them and waved the small hand of her grandson, whom she was holding in her arms.

"That we will," Ginny replied and grabbed Harry's hand. A few seconds later, her eyes were on the Burrow.

"And how do you feel," she asked him.

"I feel like when Remus asked me if I wanted to be Teddy's godfather," he said promptly and smiled happily.

He would never forget that day when he had held his godson in his arms for the first time. And he would treasure the picture of Teddy and him like he would of his own children, who he held in his arms many years later. 


End file.
